Recent developments in the biofuel industry have related to the use of genetically enhanced microorganisms to make products such as ethanol, typically in dilute solutions with water. Various efforts and different approaches have been undertaken to efficiently separate ethanol from water and enrich the ethanol product.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,163,066 to Eisenberger concerns selectively moving a vertically oriented carbon dioxide capture structure supporting an amine sorbent into and out of a regeneration enclosure in order to remove carbon dioxide from ambient air.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,491,705 to Choi et al. concerns capture of carbon dioxide from ambient air using solid amine adsorbents tethered to a silica, metal oxide or polymer resin substrate through covalent bonding.
Zhang et al., “Adsorption of Water and Ethanol in MFI-Type Zeolites”, Langmuir 2012, 28, 8664-8673 concerns water and ethanol vapor adsorption on MFI-type zeolites and discloses the preparation of silicalite-1(F−) in a fluoride-mediated route by hydrothermal synthesis adapted from literature procedures.
Gualtieri et al., “Seeded growth of TPA-MFI films using the fluoride route”, Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 111 (2008) 604-611 concerns the preparation of TPA-MFI films on dense amorphous silica glass supports using the fluoride route in combination with surface seeding.
A need exists for an improved sorbent that provides decreased water uptake and enhanced selectivity of ethanol over water.